Katie Sanders considers herself blessed. The business administration freshman will get to spend her summer doing something she loves — singing and dancing. And she’s doing it all in the name of mission work, as part of a ministry through the Baptist Collegiate Ministry.
Tell me about your plans for the summer.
“I will be going to Orlando, Fla., through the BCM through the North American Mission Board — they sponsor us,” Sanders said. “It’s a group of about 10. We’ll be staying in some homes there; people take us in for the summer.”
The trip will last eight weeks, from May 23 to July 30, Sanders said.
What will you do there?
“We’ll be going to different places, one being a family water park. Actually, for the first few weeks, we’ll be practicing songs and learning dances, and then go to the water park and perform in front of everybody,” she said. “And then we’ll be going out and talking to the people to try to witness and share Christ with them.”
Sanders and her team also will go to an outdoor mall to do the same thing. Another part of her team will put on puppet shows for children.
“We’re going to ‘Give kids the world,’ where the terminally ill kids go, and performing for them and doing puppet shows also,” she said.
Sanders said her team meets Monday to further discuss what they will do during the summer.
How did you get involved in this trip?
Sanders said she heard about the trip from two friends at the BCM who went on the trip last summer.
“They were talking about it, and basically it’s just right up my alley,” she said. “My favorite thing to do is sing and dance and perform for people, so if I can do that on a Christian basis, that’s even better.”
Sanders met with the assistant director at the BCM to get more information and fill out an application.
What kind of experience do you have singing and dancing?
“I’ve been dancing since I was 3 years old at a studio in Orange, Texas,” Sanders said. “Music has been in my family too. My grandmother is a piano teacher, and I sang in church growing up … there’s something about being up on stage that just makes me feel alive.”
Why did you want to do this?
“I had planned on going to summer school and working in Orange,” she said. “But the more I thought about it … it’s the chance of a lifetime that I just couldn’t pass up.”
Sanders said NAMB pays all the expenses of the trip, and she will receive a small paycheck during her time in Orlando.
What does this have to do with a career in business management?
“My whole reason for my major is that I’d like to work in the music industry,” she said. “This will be a good opportunity to meet people and make connections — to get experience and background in the industry.”